The Defensive Battle of Border Town
This is the attack on Border Town lead by Osmond Ryan, for the attack on Bordertown by Lehman Hawes, see the Second Defensive Battle of Border Town "Then the knights collapsed group by group. Especially the last fire, it looked like the knight who was racing at the forefront bumped into an invisible wall. I saw his body shaking, and his head and limbs were scattered, just like... an egg that was thrown off from the top of the castle." - Rene Medde The Defensive Battle of Border Town, also known as the First Defensive Battle of Border Town, was a conflict between [[Roland Wimbledon|'Roland Wimbledon's']] First Army and [[Osmond Ryan|'Osmond Ryan's']] Alliance of Longsong Stronghold Nobles. It was the first time that Border Town was directly attacked by an organised enemy as well as the First Army's first major battle against an organised enemy. This battle also marks the first time that gunpowder was used in human warfare in Roland's world. Overview Osmond's forces consisted of roughly 1500 men, most of whom were freemen and mercenaries. Around 300 of them were knights and 150 of those knights belonged to Osmond's knightage who were as good as King [[Timothy Wimbledon|'Timothy Wimbledon's']] Royal Knights if only less in number. His knights donned bright shinning armour specially made by "Hammer and Dragon Tooth" Blacksmith's shop and rode strong horses imported from the King's city. Notable commanders include Osmond Ryan, [[Hirte Medde|'Hirte Medde']], [[Rene Medde|'Rene Medde']], and Shalafi Hull. The First Army had nearly 300 men and consisted of Border Town civilians who were professionally trained and drilled to quickly carry out repetitive orders. 270 soldiers of the flintlock squad were armed with Roland's Flintlocks. They also had four 12-pound field artilleries which were manned by the artillery teams and the remaining soldiers not armed with a flintlock. Notable commanders include Roland Wimbledon, [[Carter Lannis|'Carter Lannis']], [[Iron Axe|'Iron Axe']], and''' Brian'''. Chronology Prelude Tensions between Border Town and Longsong Stronghold have been boiling ever since Roland's appointment as lord of Border Town. Eventually, Osmond decided to attack Roland after discovering that Timothy's regime was weakened after The Battle of Eagle City in an attempt to consolidate his power in the Western Region before he formed his own kingdom via conquering the weakened Northern Region. On the other hand, Roland was also preparing for the eventual clash with Osmond and developed a plan, preparing his flintlocks and cannons that were originally to be used against Demonic Beasts and Demonic Hybrids in a battle against other humans. When the Longsong host did move out, Roland was quickly informed by his flying witch Lightning and was already ready for the coming battle. Battle Duke Ryan was confused when he first came onto the battlefield when he saw the 'weak' defensive formation taken up by Roland's army which was stretched very thinly and only two men deep in rank. Although most of the commanding nobles were dismissive of Roland, especially after seeing his army's formation, a few of them, including Osmond was wary of the prince who was able to hold of the demonic beasts during the Month of Demons with only his miners and hunters. Sensing that Roland might have a plan, Osmond gave the order for his army to reorganise, placing his mercenaries at the centre of the frontline instead of his knights to use them as cannon fodder. However, just as the slow procession of mercenaries were taking positions, the army was suddenly hit by four strikes of 'thunder,' killing one knight and severely injuring another. Unbeknownst to them, they had already stepped into Roland's planned battleground and into the striking range of the cannons. Shocked and confused by the sudden attack, Osmond's army didn't receive any orders and instead only attempted to calm down their frightened mounts as they took casualties. It was only after two rounds of attacks did Osmond realise that the 'thunders' were actually long range attacks from the enemy. When he realised this, he immediately gave the order for his knights the charge, believing that these unprecedented longe range weapons would become useless once his cavalry closed the distance. Unfortunately for the knights, the accuracy of the cannons only became more accurate the closer they were, and when they were only 300 metres away, the cannon teams used grapeshot ammunition instead of the solid shells they were previously using. The grapeshot decimated the frontmost knights and caused the surviving ones to rout. When the mercenaries saw the fleeing knights, they too began the rout and soon enough, the entire army was in full retreat. Unable to reverse the situation, Osmond Ryan and his noble allies can only retreat. Aftermath This battle was a humiliating defeat for the nobles of Longsong Stronghold, with almost of all their knights lying dead or dying on the battlefield while many of their mercenaries and freemen were stomped to death in the stampede of running soldiers. They were even forced to kill some of their horses for food when the freemen left the food carts behind after the rout. Conversely, the First Army has suffered no casualties in this battle. Soon after this battle, the Alliance attempted to regroup at Longsong Stronghold, planning how they would take their vengeance on Roland. But they soon capitulated after the events of The Annihilation of the Longsong Noble Alliance before their plans could come into fruition. The whole of the Kingdom of Graycastle and even the Church were completely surprised by Roland's seemingly impossible victory, later leading to Timothy ordering knight '''Lehman Hawes '''to attack the Western Region in an attempt to investigate Roland's victory. Trivia * According to Earl Hull, at least 25 knights, 40 mercenaries and over 100 freemen were contributed to the Longsong coalition by the Honeysuckle Family. References # Chapters 113-117Category:Events Category:Battles Category:War for the Crown Category:Reunification